Month: February 2012

If there is a cliché (no pun intended) used more often than not to describe Japanese tourists in foreign countries, it is the one of the group of Japanese getting out of a bus, all of them with a camera slung around the neck and starting to take pictures of anything put in front of them. If the stereotype might be overdone, it is probably true to say that photography is more popular in Japan than in any other country.

Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Mamiya… Is it because most of the famous camera manufacturers are Japanese? Is it the consequence of a rich history in visual arts, such as calligraphy and Ukiyo-e woodblock printing? Is it a passion born through the practice of purikura? Hmmmm… Maybe not that last one.

Here are some examples. i took this picture of the newly built Tokyo Sky Tree tower at sunrise in June last year.I arrived to the small bridge I had scouted as the viewpoint for this shot at 5AM on a totally random weekday. Despite of the early wake-up and not having chosen a special day, I was sourrounded by several local photographers who had the exact same idea as me, so I had to squeeze myself in a small spot between two people.Here is a picture of the Yokohama seafront, that I took at sunset on a week-end in October last year:And here is a picture taken with my phone of the multiple people standing on my left at that time:I think you are getting my point. One last example, from the Coming of Age day of this year. In my blog post about the event, you have already seen this picture:And here is the view I had when looking over my right shoulder, from the exact same position:To conclude this post, i invite you to have a look at the website of one of my favorite Japanese photographers: Kazuyoshi Nomachi.